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Chapter 9

Eric Mercer

1:45 PM

This was insane. A twenty-seven year old guy, standing at the front door of an Ammu-Nation, firing away at a horde of zombies. Never in my life did I think that I would experience this. The thought never even crossed my mind. It was weird, actually. These zombies-they couldn't even think properly. Every ounce of common sense, every bit of brainpower was hopelessly lost when they became zombies. They were the mindless undead, forever doomed to walk the streets of San Andreas. That is, until somebody shoots their head off. Seriously though, I hadn't the slightest thought as to what was coursing through their deformed, psychotic minds. But there was something puzzled me. How could those zombies by the bridge possibly have known that my lighter would ignite the gasoline from my car? I mean, it's common sense to regular humans, but they couldn't have known how to do that. Were some zombies stupid and the other smart? Or were they all "smart?"

I made it an objective right then and there, that the next place we would visit would be ZomboTech. We have to find out more about these things.

"I've got your back, man."

I turned to my left. There was Jay, right next to me, a MAC in each hand.

"Thanks." I replied. "Just stay inside."

He flashed me a look.

"No way, man. I can't get a good shot from here. I'm going outside."

Then, before I could stop him, he hoisted his dumb ass up and out through the window. I couldn't believe what I had seen. Goddammit, I had distinctly said to stay inside. But he wouldn't listen. No. He never listens. Jay Box. The ever-vigilant war hero of our team. It was a mystery to me, how he ever became a cop. His intentions were pure, but honestly, did he have a death wish or something? Aw, what the hell. The least I could do is cover him and keep the zombies back when he reloads his gun.

"Be careful, man." I warned, watching as he climbed to his feet. He nodded slightly, then trained the first MAC-10 on the approaching wall of zombies. Bullets spewed from the barrel of the gun, cutting down zombies from side to side. Still firing with one hand, Jay raised the other gun and shot with it too. I looked to my right side. Jill stood there, blasting away with some type of submachine gun. I couldn't tell what type of gun it was, but from the messy sight of zombie decapitations and dismemberments that it was causing, Jill's gun seemed pretty darn powerful.

Suddenly, she yanked her gun hand back into the window and crouched down onto the store floor, out of sight. At first, I feared the worst, thinking she had been scratched or hit or something, but I was relieved to see that she was merely reloading her gun.

"GET DOWN!" came Jay's blaring voice from outside.

Without as much as a second thought, I dropped to the ground and lay on my stomach. I placed my hands over my head, trying to shield myself from whatever Jay was screaming about. I glanced to the side and noticed Jill had assumed the same position.

Just then, a small, circular object came soaring through the window. It bounced off the wall behind me and came to a stop beside Jill. Right next to her face, actually. She watched the object come to a stop, from the corner of her eye. She took a closer look and screamed.

"Shit! It's a grenade!"

Swooping the little bomb up from the ground, she leaped to her feet and hurled it out the window, just in time. She soon regretted doing so, though, as the grenade struck the unexpecting Jay right in the nose. It plopped to the ground, and he had only managed to get a few feet away before the grenade exploded.

Jill gaped, frozen in horror, as the fiery blast knocked Jay off his feet and flung him through the air. After what seemed like hours, Jay came plummeting back to Earth. He slammed down onto a trash can and lay still. Jill screamed, fearing the worst. She started towards the door, but I held her back. We had to clear the zombies out of the way first, no matter what.

Seeming to be fueled by some ungodly force, Jill shot insanely. Red mist and decayed body parts filled the air as the zombies were vaporized by the chaingun-esque fire. I snapped back to my senses. I couldn't let her do this alone, even if she was kicking ass single-handedly.

"No!" she exclaimed, as I attempted to raise my AK. "Go check on Jay. I'll cover you."

I gulped and nodded.

"Got it."

With that, I raced out the front door. Crouching underneath the hail of bullets, I made my way over to Jay. He was slumped in front of the trash can, his body bent in a grotesque position. I could tell right away that his left arm was seriously injured.

"Christ, man, are you all right?" I asked.

His eyelids fluttered open.

"Ah, shit, that smarts." he muttered, smiling weakly and holding his wounded arm.

"Is it broken?"

"Sprained."

"You're lucky that's all that happened to you. You took quite a hit, you know."

"Really? I was too busy to be consumed by blazing fire and excruciating pain to even notice."

I shook my head. It was impossible. How could Jay have survived a point-blank grenade blast? Well, I guess it wasn't exactly 'point-blank,' since he had run away before it exploded, but still! The poor guy should have been killed. But hey, I shouldn't argue. If he's still alive, then I'm happy.

"We've gotta help." Jay groaned, sitting upright and pointing to something behind me.

"Huh?"

We've gotta help Jill keep the zombies at bay."

"Oh, right. Almost forgot about her."

I spun around and pulled the trigger of my AK-47. The gun chattered in my hands as I fought to keep it steady. The closest zombie was cut in two as the bullets ripped through his midsection. To our horror, the zombie's upper half pulled itself away from the rest of its body and began crawling towards Jay and I.

"Aaahh! What the hell?" I cried, as I shot at the zombie.

It seemed to shrug off the gunfire as it crept closer, its exposed entrails hanging behind it.

"I've got this one." declared Jay, stepping forwards.

Standing over the zombie, he lifted his boot, and with one swift crunch brought it down on the zombie's head. Blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere as the head exploded and the zombie twitched and lay still.

"Ew." Jay muttered, lifting his boot. My mouth dropped open at the sight of the zombie. Brain juice and other weird stuff dripped of the sole of Jay's boot. The zombie torso lay on the ground, which had been painted a deep red by its blood.

"Dude, you really gotta stop getting distracted." Jay said, tapping me on the shoulder and gesturing at Jill. She stood in the window, both machineguns firing rapidly, still as strong as they had been before.

"Come on, you guys!" she called from her post.

I swore to myself as, for the bazillionth time, I pulled up my gun and pointed it at the zombies, who had been reduced to a small cluster instead of an army. Jill and I took out the zombies as Jay suddenly ran back into the store. For a minute, I was puzzled by his actions. Then it hit me. He had gone to get his M4. The one with the grenade launcher.

Jay emerged from the store, his M4 gripped tightly in his hands. For once he wasn't making that stupid pose. Oh wait, there he goes.

Gunfire covered the scenery as we fired upon the monsters, who didn't seem to be giving up. The shots from two assault rifles and two submachine guns ripped through the line of zombies. I sighed. It seemed like we'd been doing this forever. Finally, the last zombie went down, falling into the mass of dead, inhuman flesh which covered the ground. His body made a sickening splat as it landed.

I took a deep breath, taking in the sights that lay before me. The trees nearby had been totally destroyed. Claw marks and bullet holes covered the trunks of the lucky ones. The unlucky ones were little more than just stumps. The nearby buildings were...hell, you couldn't even consider them as anything anymore. When we had first arrived here, the buildings were piles of rubble, with a few upright walls here and there. They had been destroyed by zombies who had just been passing by. The remains were demolished by a whole army of zombies. Zombies who were intent on destruction. The other zombies did shit, compared to the rest of their vicious brethren. Whereas first zombies had destroyed the buildings, the second zombies had sent their remnants to hell and back. Then they spat on them, peed on them, took a crap on them, and ultimately left them in the condition they are now.

"Hey, Eric!"

Startled, I turned around. There stood Jay and Jill, waiting for me to respond.

"You gonna look at that mess all day or what?" Jill asked.

I shook my head.

"No. Let's go."

I stepped past her and headed back to the road.

"We're going to ZomboTech." I stated.

Jay groaned.

"Man, that's all the way on the other side of town! We're walking?"

I was about to respond, but Jill beat me to it.

"Fine." she said, and I sensed that this was the last straw for her.

"You don't wanna walk? Go find us a car. Any car will do. Remington, Greenwood, Savanna, Feltzer – you fucking name it! If you somehow come up empty-handed, however, then shut your ass up and start walking with the rest of us. Because frankly, I'm sick of your bullshit."

Jay shrugged.

"There's a perfectly good car over there."

We all looked. Sure enough, there was an immaculate, seemingly untouched squad car parked on the other side of the street.